Rice Steamed Buns

Rice Steamed Buns

　　Rice Steamed Buns: Made from rice ground into flour—yes, rice flour, not wheat flour—with a subtly sweet and slightly tangy flavor. It has been recognized as one of the top ten specialty snacks in Xiangshan.

　　Ingredients: Granulated sugar, fresh rice, water

　　Principle: Utilizes the natural yeast produced during the fermentation process of the rice itself. Unlike wheat steamed buns, which require added leavening agents.

　　Creating rice steamed buns that have the unique qualities of wheat steamed buns.

　　Features: Made from rice in a process similar to making traditional steamed buns, but with significant differences. The biggest difference is that it's a completely natural food.

　　Naturally fermented, absolutely no added saccharin, baking soda, preservatives, or other artificial colorings.

　　Production Process of Rice Steamed Buns:

　　1. Rice for making buns: The quality of the rice used is very important; selecting good rice is key. This is the rice my family specifically uses for making rice steamed buns—it’s all freshly milled. If you use old rice, the buns will turn sour and taste bad.

　　2. Soak a mix of japonica rice and glutinous rice in water at a certain ratio after rinsing them three times for 12 hours. The rice must be washed three times—less washing results in unattractive color, too much washing washes away nutrients. The washed rice yields white buns, pure and naturally white, and of course, no whitening agents are used.

　　3. After soaking overnight, rinse the rice again with clean water, then grind it into a slurry using a machine. Add white sugar and allow the rice slurry to ferment naturally (for about 24 hours). Also, add an appropriate amount of rice slurry that was fermented the previous day—usually around 1% of the total volume—to speed up fermentation.

　　In summer, natural fermentation is easy—just leave it in the room. In winter, due to the low temperatures, you need to wrap the bowl of rice slurry in quilts to maintain warmth for natural fermentation. Sometimes, to achieve the proper fermentation temperature, a coal stove must even be lit in the room.

　　4. Hand-roll the mixture into round rice steamed buns. After fermentation, add more sugar to boost fermentation before shaping. First, manually make small round buns and place them in the steaming tray. Then, place the tray over a pot of water at a relatively low temperature to encourage further fermentation. You need to monitor the degree of fermentation—if left too long, the buns won’t look like buns but more like flatbreads. Water temperature should also not be too high… boiling water will make the buns hard.

　　5. Steam the buns in a steamer over boiling water for 7–9 minutes.

　　6. Once steamed, the rice steamed buns are ready. Look at them—they’re snow-white, soft to the bite, with a faint, natural fermented wine aroma that’s especially fragrant and delicious. Of course, eating these won’t get you drunk—the wine aroma is just very subtle. If I had a strong tolerance for alcohol, hehe, I wouldn’t even notice the faint scent...

　　7. Decorate the buns with a touch of red. Red and white together—now they’ve got color, aroma, and taste.

　　8. Line the buns up next to each other, arranged in formation, waiting for me to eat them... By the way, should I start eating from the left, the right, or pick a big, white, tender one from the middle? Or maybe one that bloomed open in the center?......

　　9. Oh no, there are too many buns out of the steamer—and it’s only 5:30 in the morning. The bun sellers aren’t even up yet, haha. There’s no room to place them all, so I have to stack the buns...

　　Since the ingredients are just sugar, rice, and water, with absolutely no artificial coloring or food additives, it is a healthy food.

　　Because they are naturally fermented, rice steamed buns are especially suitable for people with stomach issues. They are nourishing, rich in nutrients, and in Xiangshan, they are commonly eaten as a snack, suitable for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.